Customer Reviews

Sweet Soul Queen of New Orleans: Collection

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For my money, the two most soulful female voices of the sixties belonged to Irma Thomas and Aretha Franklin, and Thomas (whose voice is so naturally powerful that anyone foolish enough to compare with her would probably go back to whatever it is failed soul singers do) had recorded all her classics before Franklin had hit her stride. Consequently, anyone interested in sixties Soul (as well as New Orleans music), needs to own an Irma Thomas collection.

Unfortunately, there is no definitive collection available on Thomas. Her first song, "(You Can Have My Husband But) Don't Mess with My Man," available on a Ron Records various artists CD, is a spunky little masterpiece essential to her story that is routinely left off of her hits packages. Her early sixties songs, produced by Allen Toussaint in New Orleans for Minit Records, are perfect capsules of the sound Toussaint was employing to great effect at the time. In addition to producing, Toussaint wrote many of the songs Thomas recorded during those early years, and the enduring brilliance of these recordings exemplifies what happens when two great talents who are sensitive to each others' gifts get together. (The Minit recordings are documented more extensively on "Ruler of Hearts," an out of print collection on the Charly label). This collection only includes five of those songs, instead focusing more on Thomas' work for Imperial Records in Los Angeles, all of which is equally as strong as her earlier recordings, if a little more streamlined and pop-oriented. No one, though, can argue with "Break-a-way," her original version of "Time Is On My Side," "The Hurt's All Gone," "Take a Look," or "While the City Sleeps". Even without the slightly later hits, this CD is worth owning for those five songs from the Minit sessions and what is arguably her best song, "Wish Somone Would Care," written by Thomas herself and recorded at one of her first sessions in L.A. Great lyrics with genuine emotional resonance and Thomas' knowing, world-weary delivery (while only in her early twenties at the time, she had already accumulated plenty of adversity) put it in the rare company of Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come." Truly remarkable.

Those interested would do well to begin with this CD or EMI's "Time Is On My Side" (which duplicates a lot of what's here) and then make the effort to find the rest of Thomas' early sixties recordings. They'll very likely be on hard to find LPs, but the search is worthwhile.

Irma Thomas, what a voice! I love this CD, it never gets old. Once upon a time, music had melody, and this is one of the best soul CD's I have. Irma is largely overlooked today, but one listen will tell you what she was all about. If you like this music, then pick up anything else you can get by Betty Harris or
Bessie Bankns, two other forgotten soul singers from the 60's. This CD has all of the old stuff produced by Allen Touissant on Minit records, as well as the studio stuff from L.A. One listen to the original "Time Is On My Side" and you will never want to hear the Rolling Stones version ever again ( as well as Bobby Womack's "It's All Over Now" )................

As an intro "best of" I prefer the Kent "Time Is On My Side" CD, but this set has two things going for it:

1) Steve Hoffman mastered it from the vintage stereo mixes. He's a great mastering engineer. So it sounds really good (despite what a couple reviews here say).

2) It presents all of the remaining Imperial/Liberty B-sides not found on any other collection. It contains some mono single mixes that sound amazing. So if you want everything she released through 1966, you will need this.

The collection is sort of in two parts. The first 11 songs are the "hits" section, and most of the following songs (except for the classic "Take a Look") are the (usually wonderful) obscurities. Thank goodness this set exists.

And, yeah, everything the other reviews say about her voice is true. Amazing singer...probably the warmest and most versatile soul singer of the 1960's. Nice sense of humor, too.

I recently got this CD and fell in love with the voice of Irma Thomas all over again! This Cd is pure delight..music in it's true form. I did notice a bit of a scatchy record sound in a couple of places but for me that just added to the joy of it all. I am thrilled this CD was not digitally remastered. Pure sweetness...buy it...you won't regret it.

I guess that if I had to style myself a soul connoisseur I would have to say that I'm a lateral connoisseur, rather than a deep one. I know a lot of music by a lot of different artists, but I don't know most artists' rare songs, nor do I carry along a lot of information about the artists. I simply enjoy the music and I'm always on the lookout to expand my soul library.

I'm happy to report that I'm absolutely thrilled to have found this Irma Thomas CD and that it is no slouch at all in terms of quality. The first 10 songs or so on this collection can easily be inserted in any great soul music collection, which is really pretty amazing give the relative obscurity of Mrs. Thomas (though not so obscure as to be covered by the Rolling Stones - see "Time Is On My Side").

I noticed someone above said the quality of the recording is scratchy but I have had no such experience and I've listened to it through a really nice pair of etymotic headphones and super crappy work computer speakers. It sounds absolutely luscious with the nice headphones.

THIS IS REALLY "THE BEST OF THE BEST" IRMA THOMAS CD OF ALL TIMES. IT
REMINDED ME OF THE FREE CONCERTS SHE GAVE AT AUDUBON PARK ON SUNDAY
AFTERNOONS YEARS AGO, AND BROUGHT BACK MEMORIES OF BETTER TIMES.

Found this now favorite CD while watching an interesting Ray Liotta film called "Slow Burn". A character in that film is a fan of the one he calls "Sister Irma Thomas". Being from Wisconsin, I have to admit I searched under Sister Thomas....then wised up and found this incredible CD. It just resonates with maybe not heart-ache but feelings of the heart. She feels. And all the musicians on this are great. Ordering another copy now for a friend who heard mine and loved it.

The songs included in this 1996 compilation were recorded in 1963 and 1964, according to the essay included. This is stated without certitude, because individual track information is not provided.

SWEET SOUL QUEEN OF NEW ORLEANS: THE IRMA THOMAS COLLECTION consists of 23 songs, presumably recorded in 1963 and 1964 on Minit and Imperial/Liberty labels. Disc packaged in black standard jewel case; total running time: 60 min. Booklet includes several photographs, a 3+ page essay by John Morthland, chart position information for 4 songs, no lyrics, and no individual track information. The sound quality is mostly decent.

Not included here is her 1960 hit "(You Can Have My Husband But Please) Don't Mess With My Man" or 1963's "I Did My Part"; nor is "Good to Me" or her other recordings made on Chess Records, after she signed with the label in 1967. Includes 10 songs not found on the "Time Is on My Side" compilation.

The collection does include her "answer record" to James Brown's "It's a Man's Man's Man's World", "It's a Man's Woman's World", produced by the Godfather of Soul himself. Another notable track is "Moments to Remember", which has an intro very similar to Martha & the Vandellas' "(Love Is Like a) Heatwave".

Note: Last note of up-tempo "Take a Look" runs over into first second of ballad "It's a Man's Woman's World" (Pt. 1)

The music is not particularly Bluesy, nor is it Southern Soul or New Orleans Jazz. It is Rhythm & Blues, verging on Do-Wopish Pop (with a couple Motown-esque tunes). Here, Irma is more Ruth Brown than Etta James; more Ronnie Spector than Aretha Franklin; more Mable John than Koko Taylor. While her voice and the music is enjoyable, I would have liked a few additional songs and I would have expected better packaging for such a costly CD.

Content/Music: 2 & half stars
Packaging/Booklet: no stars

I was watching some non-hit movie on TV when at the end they had a woman singing "Ruler of My Heart" and it was done well, very well. It turned out to be by a backup singer for Teddy Pendergrass or some similar artist whose solo album had apparently faltered. (I didn't see a credit for the song in the movie). Still, it led me back to this package of great music by Irma Thomas who first recorded the song. So that the year would not be a total waste what with Pearl Harbor and all, the world earlier that year welcomed a child who would indeed grow up to be the Soul Queen of New Orleans. There are artists from whom you only want the recognizable hits (and Irma never had as many as she deserved) and there are artists who sound great singing names from the phone book. Irma is one of the latter, but you will find a lot more than phone book info here. Few can compare with Irma Thomas and the production values are high from a talented group of people. I highly recommend this work.

The movie you're referring to with the song "Ruler of My Heart" is probably "That Night" with Juliette Lewis, C. Thomas Howell, and a very young Eliza Dushku as the girl who tells the story.